Bathtub Blackmail
by EternalCullen
Summary: Rose and Dimitri One-Shot. Dimitri extorting a wedding date out of Rose.


The ownership of all characters related to and involving the novels of _The Vampire Academy_ and _Bloodlines_ Series remain the sole property of Richelle Mead, the Penguin Group and any affiliates.

No copyrights have been infringed on maliciously.

A/N: Thank you once again to everyone that took the time to read, review, favourite and follow my previous Romitri FF's. I write purely for the joy of it and reading your enjoyment of that makes it all worthwhile.

This FF is not as intense as _Prison Call Interuptus_ ; its Romitri fluff at its fluffiest. Enjoy!

Rose and Dimitri One-shot

~ Bathtub Blackmail ~

"You're stalling, Roza, and you know it."

Nuzzling into the damps strands of hair as they lay over her right temple with the tip of my nose, I pressed my lips to the arch of her brow, watching her reaction carefully.

Rose sighed very quietly at my words; her lips stretching into a familiar grimace. This was her usual response to my broaching a subject we had been dancing around for almost four months. I had good-naturedly allowed it before, but I was fast running out of patience with my bride-to-be's evasions.

"I'm not stalling, comrade," was her pithy remark a moment later as she turned towards me. Tilting her head to the right, she looked up at me as it rested against my left shoulder to meet my steady gaze.

"You promised me that if I agreed to the engagement and you got me to wear this," raising her dripping hand from the hot water we were both immersed in, Rose waggled the fingers of her left hand and the ring on it at me. "That it would be a long engagement. Emphasis on the word _long_. We've been engaged less than four months. I don't consider that a long time and you are _not_ going to trick me into setting a date until I'm ready."

Arching her brows, she almost dared me to argue, but I smiled benignly down at her, having already formulated my plan of attack against her naturally inclined stubbornness. If I continued to verbally spar with her over this, she would simply shut down and I would get nowhere.

Shifting more comfortably against the sloping bathtub, I slide the hands that had been resting against her hips upwards; settling against her ribcage as I lightly traced the curving bones. Teasing her with fleeting forays, my thumbs occasionally brushed against the heavy under-curve of her breasts. The touches were not enough to create any real stimulation, but Rose wiggled in my grasp nevertheless.

"I know what you're up to," she warned me, but the previous conviction in her voice was not nearly as defiant as it had been earlier. The caress of my fingers made her voice wobble breathlessly.

Granted, teasing her like this probably wasn't the smartest idea on my part. It brought her buttocks into full contact with my already aching groin, but I controlled my reaction as best I could, knowing that if I revealed my hand too soon, Rose would simply try to capitalise on it and I would fail.

"What am I up to, Rose?" I replied mildly, whilst hiding the amusement and the truth from my voice. "I'm simply enjoying having a bath with my fiancée, that's all. There are no ulterior motives or hidden agendas. That suspicious mind of yours needs to just relax and enjoy this with me whilst it lasts. We're back on duty in two hours, so let's just… _soak_ for as long as possible."

Drifting upwards from the gentle hold over her midriff, my fingers glided lightly over the upper-curve of her breasts, lingering for only a second or two at her nipples before continuing on their journey. Settling finally against her temples, the tracks of water I had left behind glistened in the candle light as I pressed my fingertips lightly to the fragile skin over the pulsing points.

Rubbing gently in small circles, Rose – for once just listening to me without argument – allowed herself to go limp in my arms as she slumped heavily against my chest, moaning softly at my touch. Shifting carefully again so that I didn't jostle her, I raised my legs and propped them up at the other end of the massive claw-footed tub between the gleaming chrome taps, trapping her between my thighs.

Watching her through eyes heavy-lidded with contentment as I continued the massage, Rose languidly rested her arms along the rim of the tub, allowing her hands to dangle limply over the side. Droplets of water dripped from her slender fingertips onto the tiled floor, gathering in small puddles as steam wafted upwards from the flesh flushed by the heat of the water.

"So…a date, please," I pressed, applying more pressure with my legs to lock her in place against me. Once she learnt what I was up to, she would try to escape. This was the reason I had started this conversation in the tub…there was no where to escape too.

Sighing in aggravation now as I disturbed her perfect serenity, Rose's limp fingers stiffened and began to drum against the side of the tub in agitation. Normally, we were in perfect harmony; neither one of us doing, saying or acting out of sync, but this was not one of those occasions. To be fair, I _had_ promised that the engagement could be as long as she liked, but at the time I had made that compromise, I would have said _anything_ to get my ring on her finger.

If I left the decision to Rose, we would still be engaged when we retired from service.

Jerking away from my fingertips, Rose sat upright in my lap and turned to glare at me, angling her shoulder against my chest. The irritation in her expressive brown eyes and the set of her mouth in a mulish line would have told me everything I needed to know about her mood if her finger tapping hadn't been a clear indication.

"Dammit, Dimitri. You promised that you wouldn't badger me about this! I can't think about our own wedding when Lissa and Christian's is proving to be a logistical nightmare with security. We both need to concentrate on that and _them_ first, so can we please drop this until _after_ they're married?"

With Christian's proposal over New Year had come the inevitable headache of organizing a Monarch's nuptials. Lissa had wanted to keep the wedding as small as she could, but it just wasn't possible. Although her reign was still in its early years, she was already immensely popular amongst her constituents. The proof of that was in the wedding guest count; it regularly fluctuated between seven-hundred-and-fifty and one-thousand.

The wedding was only in June, but it was already giving most of us sleepless nights.

Holding up my hands in surrender at her reprimand, I held my tongue until she was certain that I would not press the issue. Eyeing me suspiciously as I kept my expression mild but non-threatening, Rose narrowed her eyes for a few seconds as she weighed her options. Gesturing for her to come back to me with beckoning fingers, she eventually complied, more than happy to be in my arms as she obviously decided that I could be trusted to be on my best behaviour…she really shouldn't have trusted me on that.

Cradling her closely as she resettled on my lap, Rose sighed peacefully, unaware as to my true intentions as I kissed along the high slant of her cheekbone, ending at the temple I had been nuzzling earlier; my lips lingering.

"Thank you. Now, like you said before, let's just relax and…oh, crap-"

Uttering those words in sudden panic as she belatedly realized that I had given in much, much too easily; Rose lunged forward and away from me. Reaching with grasping hands towards the taps, she tried to pull herself out of the bath, but I was faster.

Having already anticipated her reaction, I curled my arms around her midriff and trapped her arms against her body. Anchoring her legs to my own, I sunk back into the water with her tightly restrained. Completely immobilized, Rose thrashed and writhed against my hold, sloshing water over the rim of the tub to join the small puddles she had already created.

"Let go of me, you commie bastard," she shrieked, trying to elbow me before realizing she couldn't and so switched tactics to try head-butting me instead. When that too failed, she swore at me in English, Russian and Turkish, blistering my ears with language explicit enough it would make most cringe even if they didn't necessarily understand it.

Fortunately for me, I was well used to it, though I was going to have a word with Abe the next time I saw him about teaching her Turkish.

"You are _not_ going to force me into making a decision that I'm not ready to make," Rose continued, ranting at me as she struggled to break free. "I swear to God, Dimitri Belikov, if you think this ring went _on_ my finger easily, try this shit with me and you'll watch just how easily it will come _off_ and never go back on again!"

Chuckling quietly to myself despite her threats, which I knew were not entirely empty; I attempted to calm her down, all the while remembering that she had _not_ made it easy to get that ring on her finger.

"Will you relax, please?" I placated, listening to her teeth grind together in outrage as I refused to pay attention to her demands. "I'm heavier than you, my limbs are longer and you're already at a disadvantage. You can't win, Rose, now simmer down and listen to me."

Growling low in her throat, the sound was meant to act as a warning that she was nowhere _near_ ready to listen to me, but it had the opposite effect as the sound sank into my blood. Streaming through my veins like the high of an adrenaline rush, it surged to my cock, stiffening the flesh till engorged and throbbing. I shifted uncomfortably beneath Rose, seeking the relief that only she could provide. Although in the mood she was in right now, it probably wasn't advisable until I had calmed her down.

"I'm not going to force you into setting a date, Roza," I reasoned calmly as her head whipped around to glare furiously at me, the look only succeeding in spurring my desire for her and not withering as she had intended. "I'm going to _persuade_ you into setting a date."

Tightening my left arm as a restraining band, I freed my right to brush aside the sodden strands clinging to her cheek and neck, pulling her closer as she recoiled away from my touch. I would have pulled her back to me properly with the arm that was still restricting her movements, but it was probably safer for my health if I _didn't_ release her hands just yet.

"Why should I listen to you when you never listen to me?!" she seethed. "I told you that I wasn't ready to get married yet and you said you knew…that you understood, so why the hell are we having this conversation?"

"I know that and I _do_ understand," I soothed evenly. "I didn't say the date had to be tomorrow or the next day or even next week, only that I wanted one. If you want to get married on the 28th of October, five years from now, then so be it, but I want a date, Rose!"

Groaning in frustration, Rose shook her head at me, aggravated by my insistence. The movement caused her full breasts to heave and push against my forearm; her nipples digging rigidly against the veins and sinews that stood out from the muscles tensed and flexing to keep her in place.

"Why? Why is it so important? Whether I have a wedding ring on my finger or not, my commitment to you isn't going to change, Dimitri!"

"I know that, Roza," I lulled quietly into her ear, pressing a kiss the top curve of the flexible cartilage tip. "You've proven that time and time again, but I know _you_ and unless I set a deadline for you to work against, you'll just keep putting it off."

"Your excuse when we spent Christmas in Maine with Adrian and Sydney was that you didn't want to overshadow the possibility of Christian's proposal to Lissa and now you're using their wedding to the same effect. If this continues, you'll find more and more excuses and we'll never get married."

Eyes widening at my impassioned words, Rose stiffened for a moment before she sagged against me in sudden defeat…or that was what I thought, but as the next words passed through her thinned lips, I knew that it was hurt that had created the reaction.

"You think that I'm going to back out of it? You really think that I would do that to you? Don't you know me at all?"

Releasing my tight grip on her, I cradled her to me now rather than restrained. Wrapping my arms around her shoulders as I kissed her cheek, I nuzzled against her in apology. My heart ached intensely as I heard the pain in her voice…pain that had been inflicted unintentionally.

I had hurt Rose before. Deliberately. For her protection at the time, it had been necessary; though she would never know how much it had cost me, but afterwards, I had sworn that I would never again be the reason for her to experience a single moment of agony…to now know that I had failed, hurt me more than it ever would her.

"No…of course not," I rushed to reassure. "I know you, Roza. I know that once you commit to something, that nothing will deter you. I'm only asking that we make a decision on this now before anything else comes up. I promise you that once you do; once you choose whatever date it is that you want, that I will not try to change your mind about it. I will accept it no matter what you choose…so long as it's within reason."

Adding my condition was essential. She already knew that I would do anything in my power to give or grant her whatever it was that she wanted, but the very last thing I needed her to think was that this was going to be something that was entirely in her control.

"So, really what you're saying," she grumbled acidly, still not happy with me. "Is that you'll agree to any date I set…unless you don't agree to the date I set, right?"

Silently I watched her as she watched me. I don't know exactly what it was that she saw in my unguarded gaze, but whatever it was made her next words all the more important to my plans.

"Fine," she muttered grumpily. "If it's so damn important then _you_ pick the date."

"Gladly," I expressed neutrally, whilst hiding my amusement, "…February 18th."

Rolling her eyes in exasperation, Rose ran her tongue over her teeth as she spat disparagingly. "That's tomorrow, Dimitri!"

"Is it? What a happy coincidence."

Listening to her teeth grind together as she heard the false innocence in my voice and did not for a second believe it, Rose turned to me. Assessing my features, she tried to gauge my angle. "I still don't understand _why_ this is so important to you."

"I love you," I whispered in reply, kissing her softly as this time she did not pull away. "Being with you makes me happy in ways that I never thought I would be. In ways that I _never_ thought to imagine. The progression of our relationship hasn't been smooth or even easy, so can you at least try to understand from my perspective why I would want to cement it in every way possible?"

Kissing her again, though not as gently this time, I pulled away to sigh against her cheek before the overwhelming attraction for her side-tracked me. I wanted… _needed_ her to understand the fragility of life. I knew that she was already well accustomed to it; how could she not be given our profession, but for me, it was infinitely more precious. I knew what it felt like to have it taken away…and to regain it.

"I've come too close to losing you on more occasions that I care to count, Roza…or on more occasions than I can bear to remember without causing me more pain than I could tolerate. This one last little step makes me feel as though you're truly mine; that you're not going to somehow slip through my fingers if my grip falters for even a second."

Reaching down with those same fingers as they shook slightly from the intensity of the emotion I felt, I captured her left ring finger, gliding my thumb over the intricate silver setting of the engagement ring I had placed on it. Raising it from the water, the refraction of light from the candles that littered the marble countertops in the bathroom sparkled from the round gem in a fractured pattern. The opals that surrounded it shone with an iridescent brilliance that matched the vivacity of its owner's spirit.

As with most things Rose related, it hadn't been easy finding a ring that would fit her personality. To present her with something that didn't either equal or surpass the natural fire of her temperament would have been a travesty and so I had spent months searching for the perfect expression of my love for her…of our commitment to each other.

"I'm not going to slip through your fingers, comrade," Rose swore to me quietly as she heard the truth of my words and the fear that I could never quite overcome. "I love you, you know that."

Weaving her fingers with my own, she tightened her hold on our hands, sealing them together. "You aren't the only one who's afraid of losing what you love the most, you know. I understand how you're feeling…probably better than you do. I _have_ lost you, but forcing me to into something that I'm not ready for isn't going to solve that. It's a fear that we have to deal with in a way that both of us agrees to."

Sighing against her moist skin, I listened to her, knowing that what she said was right, but not wholly. I didn't think she really understood that in essence, she would _never_ be ready for marriage. Not because she didn't want me as much as I wanted her. Not because she didn't want the last bond of our relationship to be seen by all, but because she believed that she would be giving up something of herself in order to accomplish it.

"I understand that, Roza. I can appreciate that until you feel ready, you don't want to commit to a date and I can respect that. I really can, but you need to understand that once _I've_ set my mind to something, nothing will deter me. So although you're going to enjoy the end result of what I'm about to do to you, I am sorry that you've left me with no other choice in achieving it. Desperate times, call for desperate measures, _moye serdtse_."

Kissing the fragile shell of her ear once more as I executed my plan, I moved lower. Sucking gently on the lobe before biting into it just hard enough to leave shallow teeth marks, I smiled into the bite as Rose shivered in my arms. Restraining her again as she trembled, the wiggle of escape came soon after, but it was useless.

"No…no…no," she whined, resisting me as best she could, which wasn't saying much. "Don't you dare, Dimitri."

Protesting against what she now knew was my blatant coercion; I trailed the fingers of my free hand downwards to her breasts. Cupping the left, my thumb stroked over her nipple as it hardened and elongated against my fingertip, grinning as she continued to fight against my hold.

"You know," I commented lazily as Rose arched to my touch despite her objections. "Getting you into bed never used to be this difficult."

Panting slightly, Rose huffed. "We're not in bed, Dimitri; we're in a bathtub, but I'm beginning to suspect that this was your intention all along when you suggested we have a bath together."

 _Clever girl_. "Semantics, Roza – don't change the subject. I'm going to get a date out of you even if it means keeping you in this tub for the rest of the day."

Abandoning her breast, I tilted her chin upwards, sealing my lips to hers before she could protest against my words. My tongue traced lightly over the seam, gently dipping between the fold, but they refused to open for me. Chuckling against them, I pulled back to look into the defiant eyes of the woman in my arms.

"You can't win this argument with sex, Dimitri," she hissed back rebelliously as I arched an eyebrow in amusement at her words and the challenge she had just issued.

Smirking with a cockiness that was rarely ever revealed and employed even less, I pressed a loving kiss to the tip of her nose. "Are you so sure about that, Rose? Usually, it's not needed, but when you're being more obstinate than normal, I'm afraid it's exactly what I'm going to use to win this argument."

Swooping down, I closed my lips over hers as they parted to gripe at me, slipping my tongue into the hot cavern of her mouth an instant later, destroying her argument before it was voiced further. Not naturally the aggressor as it was never usually needed, I utilized everything I knew about her now…everything that I knew would stoke the fires of her desire to my advantage.

Resisting me for a few seconds; longer than I expected really, Rose moaned into my mouth in surrender. Slanting my lips, I altered the angle for deeper penetration, repeatedly stabbing my tongue into her mouth as I panted harshly. Carried by the lust fuelled by our sparring and the attraction that continued to evolve into its own entity as it refused to be tamed, we lost ourselves to it and each other.

Breaking the kiss with a groan that seemed to emanate from the very bowls of my soul, I sucked gently on her bottom lip, shuddering as I heard Rose whimper in response.

Pulling back slightly, I waited for her eyes to open before I smiled tenderly down at her. The dazed expression of her unfocused gaze struggled to find mine for long moments afterwards. Pinching her nipple lightly to bring her attention fully back, I titled my head to the side and away from her seeking lips as she moved towards me to resume the kiss, but I would not allow it.

Frowning at me, the disgruntled look on her face made me laugh loudly; the booming sound echoed off the walls of the bathroom as I kept away from her lips and asked again. "Date please, Rose."

The look of disgruntlement turned to outright fury as she spat out. "You sneaky, son-of-a-b-"

Cutting her off again, my kiss this time was hungrily consuming. Fed by Rose's natural aggression, it manifested around both of us in an inescapable snare of gluttony and greed. Sucking gently on her upper lip, I again asked before her disorientation cleared.

"Date please. Rose."

Pinching her lips together, the dazed, lustful expression from Rose's eyes dissipated completely as anger took its place. Knowing that if I continued with teasing her I would only make her more irate than she already was, I decided to up the ante before I lost the upper hand.

Rubbing her nose with the tip of mine, I pressed our foreheads together, resting against her as I slowly slide my fingertips from her nipple downwards. Trailing lightly down over her sternum, I continued to meander as the tip of my little finger dipped into her navel. Circling once, my path continued south, sifting through the soaked curls of her pubic hair as I found the cleft coated in moisture of another kind.

Sinking my middle finger into the snug folds of her vaginal mound, I found the swollen cluster of nerves and thumbed it with light, flickering touches, teasing her clit until it throbbed and pulsed with the light stimulation I tortured her with. Eyelids fluttering shut, Rose panted against my mouth as she whimpered in excitement, writhing against me as her breasts jiggled wantonly.

"Just give me a date, _moye serdtse_ , and I'll give you what you want."

Jerking sharply, Rose moaned against me, grinding closer to my finger for deeper penetration, but I denied her yet again, keeping my finger poised to enter, thumbing her clit again and again; mercilessly driving her mad.

Dipping my head, I arched her back further, pushing her right breast closer to my mouth. Greedily suckling the tightened nipple, I pulled as much of her breast into my mouth as I could devour…as much as would fit as Rose whimpered and quivered in my arms. Inching the finger in torturously, I again denied her the depth she wanted, prepared to wait her out even as my own desires rose uncontrollably; my cock aching for her.

"Damn you, Dimitri Belikov," Rose sobbed as her outer vaginal walls clamped hungrily over the finger that would not move further. "Fine…what was the date you said before? 28th of October? That's it, that's the date, now stop tormenting me!"

Grinning broadly as the triumph of my success gave me a high almost unequalled to any other, I licked roughly at the wet nipple I had been feasting on. Toying briefly with the idea of making Rose write it down then having it notarized, I dismissed it an instant later, still not entirely satisfied with her answer.

"When, Roza?" I mouthed against her supple flesh, teasing her again as my thumb rested lightly against her clitoris; rotating lightly against it. "How many years must I wait for you?"

"Five years," she panted, jerking her hips up towards my finger, seeking her relief, but I again kept her from finding it.

"No." I had mentioned the time frame only for the purpose of the argument, but that didn't mean I was going to let her use it.

"Three…?"

"No."

"Okay, two…that's my final offer."

"No. Try again."

"One."

"Try once more."

"Fine. This year…this year, you sadistic Russian bastard," she growled gutturally, her capacity for my teasing at an end. "October the 28th of this year. Are you happy now?"

Releasing her breast with one last, lingering suckle; I whispered against her lips. "More than you will ever know, my beautiful Roza."

Freeing my restraining hold, I withdrew my finger completely from the wet depths that sucked at it. Grabbing her hips, I roughly flipped Rose around so that she straddled me as I sat up, surging through the water as we crashed against each other. Wrapping her left arm around my neck, Rose clamped her thighs to my hips and crushed her mouth to mine, sucking on my tongue as I groaned greedily into her mouth.

Grasping my pulsing cock, Rose parted her folds with the throbbing head and sank onto the thick column of flesh without hesitation, crying out as the stimulation pushed her closer to the edge. Hissing out a breath, my neck arched as Rose's lips travelled hungrily down to my throat, biting gently as she began to rock and grind; the hot, wet depths of her sucking at me in unbearable arousal.

Feeling my testicles tighten and retract as the well of semen knotted painfully beneath the head, I gripped the flesh of her buttocks, grunting against the feel of her. Hammering upwards with brute force as she screamed against my throat, I clamped her tightly to me against the strength of my thrusts, my jaw straining with the pleasure that arced over me as my teeth clenched.

Desperate for the orgasm I had denied her before, Rose locked her other arm around my neck, forcing her breasts into harder contact with my chest as she rubbed frantically against me. Rotating her hips and thrusting downwards in perfect counter movements to my upward lunges, I felt the rise of her climax as my own threatened to unravel me.

Sinking my fingers into the tangled mass of her hair, I brought her mouth up from my throat, seizing her lips with a kiss that felt soul-consuming. Flexing my hips aggressively, I thrust into Rose once more, groaning into her mouth as I felt the muscles of her vaginal walls pull and grip at my cock. Feeling the strength of her climax as she moaned against my lips, I shuddered as it triggered my own, clutching at her tightly as we both moaned from the orgasm that drained us.

Sinking weakly back into the tub, I collapsed against the sloping rim, taking Rose with me as she cuddled against my heaving chest, neither of us breathing well.

"Well," I uttered minutes later, my voice still hoarse as the shuddering continued. "That takes care of the when, now all we need to figure out is the where."

Shaking her head weakly against my chest, Rose muttered in defeat as she sank further onto me. "You just deliberately seduced me into agreeing to something that I was dead set against and now you still want more, even though you've already won? I think I'm a bad influence on you, comrade."

Kissing her forehead, I asked faintly against the damp flesh. "Didn't you enjoy it, Roza?"

"Of course I did," she mumbled, shivering now as the water began to cool around us and the aftershock of our intimacy began to fade. "But I don't think I would survive you torturing the venue out of me, comrade. Let's just decide now."

"I agree. And why do you think you're a bad influence on me, Roza?"

"Because I've made you selfish…and you were never selfish before."

Amused at the comment, I wrapped my arms around her, propping her higher against my chest to get her out of the water in an attempt to keep her warmer. "You didn't make me selfish. You merely made me realize that not everything in my life had to be a sacrifice. You made me realize that I could have what I wanted whilst still being able to execute my duty to the Moroi."

In truth, that hadn't always been the case. Safe-guarding their assigned Moroi should have been a Guardian's only desire, but Rose's entry into my life had made that almost impossible to do. Achieving balance hadn't been easy, but neither of us had been willing to forfeit our love because it was complicated.

Stroking my fingers over her hair, I sank them into the damp tresses and gently massaged against her scalp, smiling as she shivered again, but not with cold this time. "You also made me realize that to get what I want; I can't always use methods that are strictly above board. Case in point, seducing you."

I didn't know whether to apologize for this or not. Knowing that I had essentially bullied her into giving me what I wanted by manipulating her desire for me should have sent her into a rage, but as she hadn't turned on me yet, it seemed as though she wasn't really expecting one.

"You shouldn't sound so proud of yourself for accomplishing that, comrade." She protested against my jaw, pressing light kisses over the bone. "Around you, I'm easy."

"There is _nothing_ easy about you, Roza. There never has been."

Feeling the satisfaction of victory sink into my bones, I decided the venue was a discussion for another time. I didn't want anything to interrupt the harmony of this moment. Cradling Rose closer, I rested my cheek against her damp hair, sighing in deep contentment as I felt my lids begin to droop.

"I think we should get married in Baia."

Laziness instantly dispelled, my lids snapped back over my eyes as my serenity was broken by the suggestion from Rose. This I _hadn't_ expected.

"Why? I don't expect that, Rose. America is your home; surely this is where you would want to be married?"

Propping herself up on my chest with her arms crossed beneath her, Rose met my puzzled expression with a serene smile of her own. It wasn't often that she managed to catch me by surprise and I knew that when she did, it was something she relished.

"Yes, American is what I consider myself despite being a combustible mix of Scot and Turk and it is home, but Siberia is _your_ home and you see it so infrequently. Besides, flying out everyone from the community to the wedding here would cost a small fortune. There are less people here that would have to fly to Russia and my parents are already in Turkey, so it just makes more sense to do it there. The church in Baia is perfect and it's big enough to hold everyone. When we get back here, we can have a small civil service to make sure that's it legal and then it's done."

My expression of surprise must have turned to shock as Rose laughed up at me.

"What, comrade?"

"Nothing…it's just. That makes perfect sense. _Logical sense_."

"Yeah…so?"

"It came out of _your_ mouth."

Punching me lightly in the stomach ridged with muscle honed by years of training, my fiancée laughed at my staggered expression. "Don't act so surprised, Dimitri. At times, I _can_ be sensible. Which by the way is entirely _your_ fault…I was never reasonable before."

Thinking through her answer once the astonishment had lessened, I realised that there was very little I could do to argue against it…and then realized that I didn't want to. The idea of marrying Rose in Baia had been a secret desire I had not realized I wanted until she had mentioned it, but now that she had, I knew how badly I wanted it.

It was yet another sign that she knew me far better than anyone else…that she understood me as perfectly as she did herself. Still, I had to be certain that she wanted this as much as I did. I didn't want her to compromise on this. "Are you certain, Roza? It doesn't matter to me _where_ we marry, only that we do."

"I'm positive, Dimitri. Although, I have to confess, I do have an ulterior motive for choosing Baia."

"Oh? What's that?"

"Between your mother, sisters and grandmother, they'll organise everything so efficiently that I won't have to do anything but get dressed and make it to the church on time."

Laughing, I hugged her tightly as I rested my forehead against hers. "You're _never_ on time for anything, Roza, so I won't expect you to make it to the church on time; in fact, I'm expecting you to make me sweat for at least an hour before you arrive."

Shaking her head, she promised me seriously with only a hint of mirth in her voice. "I'll be on time…I think I've made you wait long enough and even if I did make you wait, I would expect you to simply find me, sling me over your shoulder in my wedding dress and carry me to the alter."

Smirking at her, I shuddered as Rose ran the short edge of her nails over my chest, playing around my left nipple. "What you did was sneaky…very, very sneaky," she continued, teasing me in a similar manner to how I had before. "I'm proud of you…your moral compass is wobbling a little."

Capturing her playful fingers, I spread them over the heart that resided in my chest, but belonged to her; grinning at her remark because not all of it was meant as a teasing comment. Since meeting her, the needle of my compass had indeed begun to waver and on the rare occasion, it no longer pointed true north. If it did, I wouldn't have resorted to less than ethical methods to extort a wedding date out of her.

"You do realize why I picked that date, don't you?" I asked softly, tilting my head back against the rim of the tub as I felt the inescapable pull of time gnaw away at me.

"No," Rose replied just as quietly, resting her head in the crook of my neck as she cuddled closer whilst my ran my hands lightly over her back, tracing imaginary patterns around the vertebra of her spine. "I didn't think it had any significance, just that it was a date you had in your head."

"Oh, it has significance, Roza. In fact, it might be one of the most significant days of my life. Do you remember the day we met? The day in the alley in Portland?"

"I'm not likely to forget that day, comrade."

Her dry, droll comment made me laugh out loud again; not because she would remember it only as the day we had first met, but also as the day that I had foiled her plans of evasion.

Recalling with ease, the virulent antagonism I had faced from her when trapping them in the alley a few blocks away from the student housing they had been renting at the time; I shook my head gently, careful to not dislodge her head from its resting place. She had been ferocious in her desire to protect Lissa…ferocious and instantly unforgettable.

"It was the morning of October the 28th," I reminded her, knowing that she wouldn't have remembered it. "When we marry on that day, it will be our four-year anniversary, Roza."

I paused for effect, letting the meaning sink in. Considering that our relationship in the beginning had been built over a period of months, with neither of us really knowing which date to officially call a start, it made sense that it should be on the day that we met.

Sitting up again in my lap, Rose rested her palms against my sternum, looking down at me with an expression that was part amused and part tender as I lay my hands over the small of her back.

"Really? I was so angry with you at the time that I didn't take any notice of the day, just that it was late October…wow. Well remembered, comrade. I told you that you were more of a romantic than I was."

Sliding my hands upwards until they rested on the blades of her shoulders, I pulled her towards me again, whispering against her lips. "You have romance in your soul, _moye serdtse_ ; it's just hidden beneath layers of mouthy attitude, irrepressible spunk and disarming beauty." Smoothing my hand over her hair, I gnawed on her lower lip. "I'm only too glad that I'm the only one that now gets to see it."

Smirking, Rose kissed me deeply, indulging in my desire, but not for long.

"Hey, Dimka?"

"Mmmm?" I answered with lazy amusement. It wasn't often that she referred to me by my family nickname. She preferred the one she had brazenly bestowed on me the day I had dragged her and Lissa back to St. Vladimir's.

"We still haven't actually had that bath and we have to be back on duty in less than an hour." Scratching lightly up my neck, she cupped my jaw. "I think to save time, we should wash each other. What do you think? Good idea or bad idea?"

Grinning against her lips, I nodded very seriously as I answered her. "I think that it's an excellent idea; one of your best actually, though to be honest, we might actually freeze in this water before we're finished."

"That's okay," she husked, nibbling on my lips. "Survival 101 teaches you that the combined body heat of two people…two naked people, is enough to keep the blood warm and hypothermia away. Want to test the theory, comrade?"

I decided that I did, and although by the time we had finished, the water was icy cold, neither of us complained…how could I when I finally had what I wanted.

P.S.: Does anyone know the _actual_ date that they met? I know it was late October, but that's it. The date I made up was purely speculation. Thanks!


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